'I've asked him to go back to four'- Ben Stokes on Joe Root's batting position

Newly-appointed England Test captain Ben Stokes has confirmed that former skipper Joe Root will return to his favoured No.4 batting position.

Root, who averages in excess of 50 while batting at No.4, promoted himself to No.3 to address England's longstanding issue with the position.

And while he did get runs in the West Indies, Stokes wants his predecessor to return to No.4 as he feels that Root at four and him at six will lend experience to the middle-order and make it clear to the potential candidates about the vacancies in the batting-order.

On Saturday, Stokes confirmed to the Telegraph UK that Root has agreed to return to No.4.

"I've already spoken with him. I've asked him to go back to four, and I'm going to be at six. Wherever Joe bats, he gets runs, but his best position is at four. I feel him at four and me at six gives us a bit of experience in the gap. So you can obviously see where the places are opening up for people to put their hands up: it's three and five," said Stokes.

Stokes is now taking more interest in tracking the scores of other counties apart from Durham as he aims to reconstruct the top-order.

"I now feel I have to follow a lot more of the county games to see who is scoring runs rather than just checking the Durham score," said Stokes. 

England have been guilty of not putting their best XI on the field in the past 12-18 months. While injuries to the likes of Jofra Archer and Olly Stone have played its part, which Stokes also admitted, the well-appointed skipper made it clear that the 'Three Lions' will always put their best playing XI from now onwards.

"I've said I'm moving back to six so that it might open up a position in the batting order. You look at the players who aren't currently available through injury – Wood, Archer, Stone, Curran," he added.

"They're all injured, and they'd all be seriously fighting for places, then you place them among Broady, Jimmy, Robbo, Woakesy... it's so exciting to think about the team we could put out there if we don't have any injuries. We just have to pick the best XI and always make sure we do that. That's something me and Rob Key are very clear about," Stokes concluded.

Stokes' captaincy era will start next month when England hosts New Zealand for a three-match Test series.